Liquid from Nephridia & Oral Papillce of Peripatus. 45 



to examine the liquid in question, I found I had not sufficient 

 material for extended observations upon it. Seeing that the 

 nephridia communicate directly with the body cavity, it 

 seems to me most probable that the liquid containing 

 corpuscles is really coelomic fluid, expelled from the body 

 cavity through the nephridia under the influence of chloro- 

 form, the expulsion being probably due to sudden and strong 

 muscular conti'action. We cannot imagine that amoeboid 

 corpuscles are a product of excretion, normally discharged 

 from the nephridia, we must therefore believe that they 

 belong properly to the coelomic fluid, although I am not 

 aware that they have been hitherto observed in the coelomic 

 fluid of Peripatus. 



Prompted by these observations, I next, having now 

 unfortunately only a single specimen (P. insignis) left alive, 

 placed a drop of the liquid discharged from the oral papillae 

 of this animal under the microscope. This, also, I found to 

 contain very numerous corpuscles nearly resembling those 

 already described ; but as this liquid very rapidly hardens 

 into an enamel-like mass on exposure to the air, I had little 

 opportunity of examining them in the fresh state. It seems 

 probable, however, that these also are amoeboid, and since 

 the slime glands do not (so far as is known) communicate 

 with the body cavity, the corpuscles are probably formed 

 within the sflands themselves. 



